In my previous two blog articles we discovered many reasons why storytelling is the most powerful component of public speaking. We examined the elements that make a compelling story, and we explored key concepts such as conflict and character building. In this article we will learn how to further polish our story writing skills by studying the three narrative modes.

There are as many different writing styles as there are writers. However, it is possible to break down every writer’s work into three basic stylistic modes. Since storytelling is an art there is no “perfect” style. However, it is possible to avoid the most common mistakes which result in trite, clunky, or otherwise ineffective stories. These issues usually stem from an over or under-use of one or more of the three modes. If you learn to recognize, develop and manipulate each mode, you’ll be on the royal road to storytelling success. Here they are:

1. Reporting

Reporting is the simplest form of storytelling. It can be heard whenever you listen to the news on the radio or television. When you report something, you relay events as if you are summarizing. The following passage is an example of a fictional passage written in the reporting style…

“That night, I called to John’s house. He told me he wasn’t interested in being part of my plan to form a protest in response to the new government taxes. I explained how unfair it was, and how disorganised the politicians were, but John was adamant he didn’t want to be involved.”

As you can see from this passage, the story clearly has a timeline, plot, scene and characters. However, when any passage is written in this mode, the details of the elements of the story tend to be sparse. You don’t get to know much about any scenes or characters. Further, any conflicts that occur will not be clearly presented or even understood. And, while there may be a climax to the scene (as above), there is no obvious message or theme.

Young children tend to use the reporting style when they relay stories, for example, “Then we went to the circus. Then we saw the clowns. Then we had chips and a drink. Then we… Then we…”Before we leave the reporting style it is important to note that it does have an important place in storytelling, and it does have advantages. For example, reporting does “get to the point” in what it is trying to describe. It is also extremely succinct. And of course, it allows you to pick up the pace between more important scenes and events.

2. Transporting

Transporting is a powerful narrative style that thrusts the listener right into the story. Transporting works by painting scenes, engaging the senses, and bringing characters to life through tangible and kinaesthetic descriptions and dialog.

If your writing allows a listener to picture a scene in their minds; if it engages several senses; if it allows listeners to visualises characters; if they can hear characters’ voices directly through quoted dialog AND allows the listener to form a relationship with everyone involved, including the storyteller… THEN you are successfully transporting.

Transporting allows the storyteller (and listeners) to go back in time and experience the story as if they observers, sitting at the side-lines, experiencing everything as it happened. Transporting is the most powerful mode of narration, however, there are disadvantages to overusing it. Let’s re-write the above passage in the style of Transporting…

“The night I decided to call to John’s house I threw a thick heavy coat on. It was freezing outside, and windy to boot. The estate where John lived was utterly quiet; devoid of sound but for the wind. John’s house was a five minute walk; every step against the wind. I felt the chill cut through me as I made my way up the steps towards John’s front door. I grabbed the heavy brass knocker and rapped the door four or five times.

John could be best described as a hippy out of time, an aging “new ager” with an axe to grind about everything. He wore a permanent smirk on his face, giving people the not-entirely-untrue impression that he looked down on the rest of humanity with disdain.

I cupped my hands and breathed warm air into them. “Hurry the hell up, John”, I whispered looking around the overgrown weed-ridden garden.

Finally, the door swung open. Some 70’s rock music I didn’t quite recognise blasted from behind his ruddy red face, smirk very much intact.

“We need you”, I said, “You know the tax is unfair, and you know we need someone who can make a speech to the crowd.”

“It won’t make any difference”, he said, making a move to shut the door.

I wedged my boot in front of the door.

“The politicians haven’t a clue what they’re doing”, I said, “If we…”

“Forget it”, John said.

The results of writing in a transporting style is that the story is more compelling and memorable. As you can also see, the story becomes a lot longer. What can we do to fix the length?

The trick is to give the listener just enough to experience the story first hand while concentrating only on what you have decided are the important aspects of the story. Of course, what you decide is important depends on what you are trying to say with the story. In the context of public speaking, ask yourself, “What is the main point, overall purpose or message of my story?” This will determine what you can deliver in the transporting style. Anything less important can be reported.

Let’s re-draft the above passage with a balance of Reporting and Transporting…

“The night I decided to call to John’s house I threw a thick heavy coat on. It was chilly outside, and I walked against the wind for the five minutes it took to reach John’s front door. I knocked five times.

Finally the door opened and I was greeted by John’s ruddy red face. John was a hippy out of time, an aging “new ager” with an axe to grind about everything. He wore a permanent smirk, giving people the not-entirely-untrue impression that he looked down on the rest of humanity with disdain.

“We need you”, I said, “You know it’s unfair, and you know we need someone who can make a speech.”

“It won’t make a difference this time”, he said, shutting the door.

I wedged my boot in the door and pushed in.

“The politicians haven’t a clue what they’re doing”, I said, “If we…”

“Forget it”, John said.

The result is shorter and tighter while keeping the essence of the story intact. You will notice that some chopping and changing of the order of some sentences can improve the flow of the story. You will also notice that the dialog and character descriptions have been left largely intact. This is because it’s very important to connect with the main characters in a story. Ancillary characters do not need much detail or attention, especially if you are stuck for time.

In the passage above we have more of a sense of the conflict between the characters. This is achieved through dialog. Direct dialog (which is always transporting) is so important. Many speakers fail to quote key characters in their stories, much less describe them in any significant detail. I’ve lost count of the number of times I heard speakers say things like “my team did this”, “they agreed that”, “my sister said this”, “my family traveled with me” and yet we never got to know those characters. “Just who are they?” I often find myself asking. At least give your characters a name, for goodness sake. And please give them a voice!

3. Philosophizing

Philosophizing is very important for the public speaker, because speakers will frequently use stories to support facts, opinions, ideas and/or messages. Even if your overall purpose is to entertain (with no clear message) you’ll likely have a theme or moral. You may also want to emphasize different ideas or add commentaries of your own that you deem interesting. This can be done by a character within the story, or by you, the speaker. Philosophizing also lays breadcrumbs for the listener to understand your eventual message, moral or theme.

Let’s use the latest draft of our sample passage and introduce a little philosophizing to point towards a message “Sometimes flattery gets you nowhere!” The philosophizing statements will be in bold…

“The night I decided to call to John’s house I threw a thick heavy coat on. I suspected I was wasting my time but I decided I would try to talk to John. John was a hippy out of time, an aging “new ager” with an axe to grind about everything. He wore a permanent smirk, giving people the not-entirely-untrue impression that he looked down on the rest of humanity with disdain. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

It was chilly outside, and I walked against the wind for the five minutes it took to reach John’s front door. I knocked five times.

Finally the door opened and I was greeted by John’s ruddy red face. “I know why you’re here”, he said, “I told you already I’m not interested.”

I felt I was already I was up against a brick wall.

“We need you”, I said, “You know it’s unfair, and you know we need someone who can make a speech.”

I was trying to appeal to his ego but he was having none of it.

“It won’t make a difference this time”, he said, shutting the door.I wedged my boot in the door and pushed in. This was my last chance.

As he slammed the door I realised… sometimes flattery gets you nowhere!

If you chose to share a different message, such as “You should never let a refusal discourage you!” you would change the philosophizing statements accordingly; perhaps resulting in this…

“The night I decided to call to John’s house I threw a thick heavy coat on. I suspected I was wasting my time but I decided I would try to talk to John. John was a hippy out of time, an aging “new ager” with an axe to grind about everything. He wore a permanent smirk, giving people the not-entirely-untrue impression that he looked down on the rest of humanity with disdain. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

It was chilly outside, and I walked against the wind for the five minutes it took to reach John’s front door. I knocked five times.

Finally the door opened and I was greeted by John’s ruddy red face. “I know why you’re here”, he said, “I told you already I’m not interested.”

I felt I was already I was up against a brick wall. His refusal to help was proving difficult so I tried appealing to his ego...

“We need you”, I said, “You know it’s unfair, and you know we need someone who can make a speech.”

“It won’t make a difference this time”, he said, shutting the door.

I wedged my boot in the door and pushed in. I knew this was my last chance.

“The politicians haven’t a clue what they’re doing”, I said, “If we…”

“Forget it”, John said.

He slammed the door, and at that moment I decided I wasn’t going to let John dissuade me. I was going to speak to the crowd myself. Sometimes a refusal is all you need to find your place and step up!​

You can see from this exercise that, with minor tweaking, you can tailor a story to make many different points. The philosophizing statements will be the ones you will need to tweak accordingly.

As I mentioned earlier, different writers have different styles. This is a result of having different affinities and preferences for the different narrative modes. J.R.R. Tolkien loves to transport, hence the size of The Lord of the Rings. If you read Oscar Wilde you will quickly realize he is a philosopher.

Let me finish with some final tips:

If you find your stories are a little boring or dry, you are likely reporting too much. If you find your stories tend to be lengthy and protracted, you are overdoing the transporting or otherwise adding too much superfluous information. If your stories are a little confusing or hard to draw ideas from, you are missing out on philosophizing, which can add a stability and a steer.

With time you will discover that you can mix the modes together within a single statement. It takes practice, but practice makes polish makes prose. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Every artist was first an amateur.” Storytelling is an art. As such, if you want to become a great storyteller, the best thing you can do is write, write, write.

As a public speaker, please use stories to teach, entertain, persuade and/or inspire someone somewhere sometime soon. Everyone loves a good story.